Glee repeat more Wonder-ful this time
Glee fans, self-professed Gleeks, were none too kind to the Stevie Wonder-centric episode Wonder-ful when it first aired in May. Judging from the flurry of online recaps at the time, fans found fault with everything from a seemingly uninspired song list to inconsistent characterizations to a wafer-thin storyline.
Hardly any of them could have known it at the time, but one common complaint — the unexplained absence of Finn Hudson, owing to actor Cory Monteith’s being unavailable for filming — provoked some of the most heated reaction, with one fan complaining, “Can’t we get a line of dialogue that establishes why he’s no longer around? It doesn’t make sense for the story that he’s just gone.”
As is widely known, Monteith will not return. The very week Wonder-ful is being repeated, the Glee cast is in production on Monteith’s tribute episode, which is tentatively slated to air Oct. 12. Monteith’s death will be addressed indirectly, through the sudden and unexplained death of his character. The episode will not reveal how Hudson died, according to those close to filming. Instead, the tribute episode will open with word of Hudson’s death, followed by soul-searching and remembrances of who he was in life.
The script was penned by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, and garnered effusive praise from Glee actress Jane Lynch, among others, who tweeted on Aug. 21, “Just read Cory Monteith memorial episode. Most beautiful thing. Thank you.”
Murphy said he wanted the episode to be a “lovely tribute” and a heartfelt look at how young people grieve.
“We loved Cory and we loved Finn, and it feels like a huge loss and a huge heartache not to have either of them around,” Murphy told the Deadline Hollywood website. “We’re trying to craft an episode that’s not just about us grieving but about a lot of the young fans grieving.”
Wonder-ful, a less-than-warmly received episode of Glee, has taken on added meaning, not least because of the cast performances of classics I Wish, Higher Ground, You Are the Sunshine of My Life, For Once in My Life and Uptight (Everything’s Alright). Sometimes, inspiration is where you find it. (8 p.m., Fox, Global)
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The New Green Giants, a Doc Zone repeat, examines myths and controversies surrounding the organic food industry. You are what you eat, but sometimes you can’t be entirely sure what it is what you’re eating. (9 p.m., CBC)
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A little less action and a little more conversation: Bill Murray joins David Letterman for a late-night chat on The Late Show. The former SNL and Second City player and Caddyshack and Ghostbusters star is Letterman’s only scheduled guest, so this is unlikely to be one of those late night hi-how-are-you/so-long-see-you-later quickies. (11:35 p.m., CBS, CFMT)
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It’s hard to find good help these days. That’s one of the conclusions Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) reaches after the general manager of a luxury Manhattan hotel is found dead inside one of his establishment’s industrial laundry machines, in an Elementary repeat from January. (10 p.m., CBS)